Ocean, nature, critters, and recreation

January 2017

Jan 25, 2017

Photos circulating via social media show what's said to be a great white shark beneath 10-year-old Eden Hasson as he rides a wave near Newcastle, Australia.

The boy’s father, Chris Hasson, snapped photos as his son surfed the wave. After a look at his viewfinder, Chris called his son to the beach, fearing for his safety.

“It rolled over having a good look at his yummy yellow new wetsuit,” Chris Hasson is quoted by the Sydney Morning Herald.

Chris elaborated on Facebook: “Just as [Eden] is taking off I see something out of the corner of my eye. I keep shooting and after he finishes and starts paddling out I zoom in on the second photo and see he's just done a backhand snap on an 8-foot Great White Shark’s head.”

But shark aficionados became suspicious of the images. One marine biologist, who has exposed phony photos as frauds in the past, said the boy was not in danger because there was no shark in the wave.

“THIS IS NOT A SHARK!” reads the Facebook declaration by Drew Scerbo, scientific advisor to the White Shark Advocacy group. “It’s a duck-diving surfer on a white surfboard getting out of the way for the kid to catch his wave. You can easily see it if you imagine the surfer's hands on the board. You can also see his foot in the water and the motion of the water itself shows something just submerged.”

Scerbo also criticized the father for allowing the images to go viral.

“The father of this kid should be cited for a false report as he clearly knew better,” Scerbo wrote.

Viewers who blow up the closeup image in Hasson's Facebook post can decide for themselves, but the symmetry from the torso down looks peculiar, and there appears to be a person's foot where the shark’s tail fin would exist.

Pete Thomas Outdoors reached out to Hasson via Facebook message, but he had not responded at the time of this post.

Scerbo found an older photo of a hammerhead shark with its dorsal fin in the exact same position, and with the same markings. It was the same dorsal fin. The image appeared to have been photoshopped and worked into a menacing position behind Gutsche.

Jan 23, 2017

It’s unclear whether the California sea lion had hoped to hitch a ride atop the gray Honda Civic, or whether the plump pinniped merely sought a smooth surface on which to nap.

But the sight of such an immense sea creature resting on the roof of such a tiny car – which was parked inside a bustling Washington boat yard – was extraordinary enough to attract several onlookers and, eventually, the police.

Additionally, the bizarre scene has made Melanie Sceva somewhat famous. Her video footage, captured Saturday at Nichols Brothers Boat Builders in Freeland, has been widely shared on Facebook, and attracted numerous media inquiries.

In the footage, the sea lion can be seen gazing at onlookers while standing on its fore-flippers, or plopped prone against the car’s roof. “That is the weirdest thing—why would he even do that?” Sceva says while videotaping.

According to the Seattle PI, members of the Sheriff’s office eventually arrived to persuade the sea lion to climb down. It's unclear what happened afterward, or how badly the car was damaged.

Jan 04, 2017

For the second time in two weeks, a young skier at a Utah resort has found himself hanging high above ground from a chairlift and in dire need of a rescue.

In both cases, straps from a backpack became stuck on lifts at Sundance Ski Resort, leading to harrowing ordeals for the boys.

The latest incident occurred Monday afternoon (see video). The boy became stuck while trying to exit a chair at an elevated drop-off point, as the chair traveled down slope.

The chair continued for a moment, then stopped about 12 feet above ground, leaving the boy to dangle motionless in what represented an eerie scene for onlookers.

“I was scared for him, and it was a scary thing for me to witness,” Clint Ashmead, who was on an adjacent chair with his two sons, told Pete Thomas Outdoors. “But the boy remained calm. He managed to kick off his skis and throw his poles to his sides, in case he fell.”

Ashmead, who videotaped the rescue, said the lift operator was quick to stop the chair before it was dangerously high. He explained that ski patrollers laid out a cushioned mat and used a ladder to reach the boy and place him back on the chair. The rescue took about six minutes.

“Two of them rode to the base of the mountain with the boy,” Ashmead said, adding that he hopes his footage will raise awareness about safety while on the slopes. Last month at Sundance, a boy was rescued after his backpack became stuck on a different lift.

The use of backpacks by skiers and snowboarders is a relatively new phenomenon, and some resorts try to discourage customers from wearing them while riding chairlifts.

Sundance officials told Fox 13 that they strongly urge guests not to wear backpacks, or to wear them in front so the straps are less likely to get caught.

Ashmead said he and his sons were not wearing backpacks on Monday, and described he incident as “a shock-and-awe” moment.